Me Encanta Barcelona

For about the last ten days I have been traveling around Europe. The first stop on my adventure was Barcelona, Spain.

Barcelona is one of my favorite cities in Europe, hands down. It is absolutely amazing there. We stayed at a really nice hostel close to one of the main streets and only a short walk to the harbor. The first day only three of us had arrived and we took a walk on La Rambla (The main street with lots of shops and restaurants) and ended up stumbling upon a market. However, this was not just any market. This was the Mercat de Mercats which is a market that is only held once a year is hosts some of the best of the best foods and wines of Barcelona. We spent just about three hours there grazing on cheeses, salamis, and seafood while sipping on Spanish wines. It was so much fun. And the longer we were there the more people we knew kept showing up!

This is the Mercat de Mercats

This is a sample of some delicious looking food that we saw and sampled

This served six with leftovers

The next thing we did was walk around some more and then head back to our hostel for a siesta. This was completely necessary since we needed to make room for the dinner that we were going to that night. We went to a place near the beach to try some authentic Spanish paella. It was amazing. Definitely one of our best meals. We even got sangria to go with our food! It was a little too sweet for me, but still quite good. I think I prefer Italian wine though, the Chianti that we had in Florence is still my favorite. After dinner we spent some time running around on the beach at night which was a lot of fun. Then we were off to discover Barcelona's famous night life. The club that we went to was huge and we danced and sang to the music all night. It is true that the locals stay out until 6am but we got tired before that, probably thanks to our giant dinner, and went back to the hostel to sleep. The next morning we met up with one of my roomies', Sara's, cousin. He is an architect who lives in Barcelona so he took us on a tour around the city and we got to experience Barcelona the way that the people that live there do, not just like a tourist. For dinner that night we had Tapas, a traditional Spanish dish which is essentially many different types of small servings that you choose from. Some of our favorites were the potatoes bravos (spicy potatoes), the ham croquettes, and the stuffed red peppers. The next day was devoted to experiencing the architecture of Gaudi. It was great to have an architect as our guide since he was really able to explain the importance and style of Gaudi. Here are some examples of his works:

It's so wavy!

It has a rainbow roof!

<- This church is possibly Gaudi's most famous work. It is called the Sagrada Familia and it is still under construction, long after the death of Gaudi. The four towers that are visible in this photo are only four out of twelve, one for each apostle. On the other side of the church there are scenes from the Passion carved into the facade.

This was our last day in Barcelona and we treated ourselves to an American comfort food done the Spanish way: burgers. More specifically, the best burgers in Europe and possibly the World. Yes, they were that delicious. We were unable to stop talking about them for a week. If you are ever in Barcelona, the restaurant is called Kiosko and it is amazing. The burger pictured is the Manchego burger with goat cheese and caramelized onions.

One of the most interesting things about Barcelona is that it is part of the region of Catalonia in Spain. Catalonia is currently trying to separate from Spain and become it's own nation. This is spurred by a sense of regionalism as opposed to nationalism. Catalonia also has their own language. It is more like a mixture of Italian and French than Spanish, and I actually found that I was able to read it better than normal Spanish.
Now, here are some more pictures of Barcelona:

This street had a Roman Triumphal Arch at the end!

At the beach after dinner

How perfect does this look?

Tired, on the boardwalk, and happy to be in Barcelona!

Midterms! Then Back To My Life Of Whimsy

Finally! Proof that I am going to actual school! Last week I had my Italian midterm which I think I did well on, but we shall see. This week I am studying for my area-studies midterms. My brain is practically bursting with all of the different pieces of art I need to know and their significance. It's pretty crazy. The class I'm most worried about though is Contemporary Italian Politics. Learning such a complex and utterly crazy political system is definitely difficult, and then how that system interacts with the European Union, it's madness! The Italians sure do love having crazy political scenes. But the sooner I get through my midterms means the sooner I leave for my fall break!
I really am living the life over here. For my fall break I am going to Barcelona, Madrid, and then Amsterdam! I'm really excited to be traveling with all of my roomies and explore all of these cities! In Barcelona I'm most excited just to immerse myself in Spanish culture and walk around pretending like I'm Picasso!

Barcelona: It looks pretty magical

Next stop is Madrid. Madrid is where I'll get to experience the art of Francisco Goya and his contemporaries. Also, the Botanical Gardens sound like they'll be pretty cool. I've also heard that the food's pretty great :)

Madrid: so excited

The last stop on our fall break is Amsterdam. We're all pretty excited to visit the Science Museum and the Ann Frank House. We also plan on taking as many water taxis as possible down the canals. It should be interesting going to a place that I don't really know that much about.

Amsterdam: looks like fun

Only The Living Allowed

On Friday I went on a field study to the Etruscan Necropolis!! For those that don't quite understand my excitement, the Etruscans were a civilization living just outside of Rome and were an established culture before the Romans even existed. However, the Etruscans were crucial to the development of Rome. The Etruscans traded with the Greeks and then traded that information to the Romans. Without the Etruscans the Romans would not have obtained the Greek/Latin alphabet as early as they did. The Etruscans were also a highly evolved civilization, for example women and men were treated fairly equally. Women in the Etruscan culture were allowed to dine with the men and drink wine; things that would never happen in the Greek and Roman cultures unless the woman was a prostitute. The Etruscans also built quite lavish tombs in the Necropolis which include stone beds and chairs and well preserved frescoes. So, being as in love with ancient history as I am, I was super excited for this trip! Here are some pictures of the awesome things I saw:

Tomb of the Leopards

That mound is a tomb. Amazing.

Friday was also the first real Fall weather day. It made me so happy! Apart from this excursion my weekend has been fairly tame. I've mainly just been doing laundry and studying for my midterms that are coming up!

Not Oktoberfest

grapes adorn the fountains

This weekend most of my flatmates went to Oktoberfest. However, due to the large price tag, I decided not to go. Instead, I went with some other Wooster people and some new friends to the Marino Grape Festival! We only went for the day on Sunday but still had a blast! Marino is an old medieval town that was once used as a summer getaway for the Roman nobility who built large villas there. Marino is 21 kilometers south of Rome and is famous for the grapes and wine that are produced there! Every year they have this festival to celebrate their town and the miracle of the fountains. The miracle of the fountains is when the water that usually flows turns into a golden white wine. Before the fountain miracle there is a parade with people dressed in medieval costume and lots of good food! However, the town does distribute free bags of grapes, and they were quite delicious! The wine that flows from the fountains is also free, but it was a little difficult to get to since there were so many people there also trying to get their cup filled. We did eventually get our free wine and it was really quite good but it was definitely worth going just for the festival atmosphere and the free grapes! Did I also mention that the train to get there only cost four euro round trip? I love the European public transportation systems :)

Firenze Is Not A Centaur

This weekend I visited Firenze! By Firenze I mean Florence, not the awesome centaur in Harry Potter. Florence was one of the most magical places I've visited though. The art, the architecture, the markets, the food... it was like living in a dream. Our hostel looked out onto a smaller leather market next to the Uffizi Gallery. The Uffizi is where we got to see Botticelli's The Birth of Venus and La Primavera. We went to the Uffizi and another gallery, the Accademia, on Friday after we dropped off our things at the hostel. The main exhibit at the Accademia was Michelangelo's David. It was amazing! It is approximately five times larger than I ever imagined it would be and the skill of Michelangelo is just phenomenal. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos of the David. One man tried to take one while we were there and he was promptly run down by security and made to delete the photo off of his camera.

The Birth of Venus

La Primavera

 The next big thing that we did was to visit the Duomo and then walk up to the top of the dome. The inside of the church is rather plain except for the dome decoration. However, the dome's decoration and the dome itself were amazing! Although if you are at all claustrophobic I would not recommend climbing to the top of the dome, even though the views of Florence are breathtaking. After the Duomo we set off to explore the main leather market. Everything smelt so nice there! Leather from Florence is hands down the best I've ever seen. Since I was so inspired by the shopping, I made my one major purchase...shoes! I bought myself a beautiful pair of tall equestrian style black leather boots! They are so comfortable and soft; I cannot wait for Fall to actually show up in Italy! Most of the girls I went with bought leather jackets which are all beautiful and fit them perfectly. At the market we all definitely polished our bargaining skills, the vendors definitely try to sell as high as they can to unsuspecting tourists! Both nights we were there we had delicious meals. The first night we went to a little restaurant recommended by Rick Steves and had really great traditional Tuscan cuisine. We even met a travel book author and his wife who ended up buying us some Chianti wine, everyone we met in Florence was so nice! The second night we participated in an event called WineTown where we were able to do a wine tasting at different locations around the city. It was really fun! Then we went to a restaurant that was recommended to us by the people behind us in line to enter the Duomo. It was also really good! We even branched out and tried things like "black pasta" (pasta made black with squid ink). Overall, it was a very successful (ans expensive!) weekend!

I have also started planning for fall break and just booked my flights for Barcelona and Madrid! Now I just have to figure out where to go for my last days of break!

Worth It

My entire trip has just been validated with one trip to the Capitoline Museum. I am so incredibly happy.

Now, off to Firenze (Florence) for the weekend so i can see such sights as Michaelangelo's David, Brunelleschi's Duomo (dome), and Botticelli's The Birth of Venus

Fun With Jesus

Nave of Chiesa del Gesu

"La Deposizione" -Caravaggio

The way that my classes work in Italy is that I have each class twice a week and Italian three times a week. For the classes that I have twice a week we have one one hour period and then a two hour period. The one hour classes are generally lecture based. However, the two hour classes are where the real fun begins. During these larger blocks we generally go out and look at things pertinent to what we are studying. This means that so far this week I have been to a total of four beautiful churches. I tend to visit churches for my classes since they are some of the most characteristic places to see Renaissance and Baroque art. On Tuesday I visited Chiesa del Gesu, Sant'Andrea della Valle, and Chiesa Nuovo. Wednesday, I went to Basilica di Santa Cecilia. All of the churches I went to were Baroque in style and Santa Cecilia had a Baroque nave decoration but the majority of the church was Renaissance. The Baroque, illusionist paintings in Chiesa del Gesu were some of the most amazing things that I've seen in Rome. Pictures do not do the paintings justice, I am so lucky to be able to see the art in person! The characters in the paintings do not respect the architecture of the boundaries of their frames but instead give a three dimensional effect that is so powerful that you cannot tell the differences between the paintings and the actual sculptures that interact with them. The church of Sant'Andrea della Valle was also very breathtaking. The church is dedicated to Saint Andrew and houses many great works of art. Perhaps the most exciting piece that we saw was painted by Caravaggio. The side altar glorifying St. Andrew was also amazing. The altar was decorated with gold, black onyx, and lapis lazuli; it was beautiful. The last church we visited on Tuesday was the Chiesa Nuova, or New Church. This church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The church is home to an icon of the Virgin that is meant to be miraculous. What I found to be miraculous was the triptych of paintings by Rubens that surrounds the icon. The painting that is at the center has a hole in the center in which one can view the icon. The painting surrounds the icon with a host of angels and the paintings on either side depict saints that are also important to the church.

Altar/ Center painting